In some forms of casino wagering games, such as blackjack, poker games and other card games, players have opportunities to make elections or to exercise different game and wagering strategies. For example, in draw poker games, poker games in which additional cards are added to an initial partial hand, and any card game in which there are options in the play of games with additional information or additional symbols or additional cards being provided, the player may elect actions from among various different strategies and directions. Although these types of games tend to enhance player interest and prolong play at tables, players may also take excessive amounts of time in play of such games while making decisions. Players also sometimes make poor strategic decisions.
In certain games, particularly blackjack (also referred to as twenty-one), player Strategy Cards are available for purchase and casinos generally allow the use of these cards at gaming tables. These cards represent a summary of the statistically correct way to play a hand of blackjack. By following these guidelines the house advantage is reduced to a number that approximates the theoretical house advantage. Most players do not follow this strategy and, as a result, the house earns a higher percentage of wagers placed. Despite the fact that casinos and gaming jurisdictions have strict laws and regulations prohibiting almost all types of mechanical or electronic devices at gaming tables and gaming apparatus, strategy cards are tolerated by operators because they tend to speed up play and offer players no real advantage that could not be obtained by simple memorization of a set of Strategies.
Certain technologies have been developed over the years to assist players in making strategic play decisions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,069 (Sines et al.) discloses a display system provided on a gaming table in which best strategy information is displayed for view by each player separately prior to a game play decision. As virtual cards are provided to players (usually at least two cards of a player must be shown, as well as the dealer's up card), the strategy displayed for each individual player is shown. As the number of cards in a player's hand changes with additional hits, the strategy may change. This is particularly described in FIGS. 12-19 of Sines et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,438 (Schubert et al.) discloses a card handling device in which information read from playing cards is transmitted to a processor. The processor analyzes the data, and analyzed information and data are displayed on a player-viewable and/or dealer-viewable screen. The types of displayable information may include at least one of: cut card presence, stop card delivery state, door open, misdeal, continue to deal, stop card delivery routine, hand outcome, player instructions, history of player hand results, game outcome, game rules, hand count advertising, player announcements, deck counts, running card count, true card count, ace card count and house advantage.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,361,086 (Gazdic et al.) discloses a method and apparatus for conducting a wagering game. A value input device receives a wager from a player to play the wagering game. A processor is operative to define a plurality of possible destinations; define a plurality of possible different movement patterns for moving the objects to the destinations; and for a given one of the objects, assign probabilities to the respective possible movement patterns and select one of the possible movement patterns based on the assigned probabilities. A display depicts the object going to a selected one of the destinations in accordance with the assigned movement pattern. The assigned probabilities for the given object may, for example, depend upon the destination that is selected.
Although each of these systems provides some ability to inform players of best strategies in the play of games, there are still weaknesses in the existing systems. One shortcoming of existing systems is that the advice is only provided before a play decision is executed. Once the play decision has been made, the player has no opportunity to retract a bad play decision. In addition, players are ordinarily wary of advice given by casinos and personnel with regard to playing and wagering strategy, and particularly information given by processors on video displays because they suspect the advice is biased toward the house. For example, typical advice received from dealers is “To win more, you have to bet more.” It would be desirable if advancing electronic game play technology could provide an information display that speeds up games, gives players the feeling of being trustworthy and prevents players from making egregious errors of the type not contemplated by player strategy analysis.